Town doesn’t trust it’s water

It’s the most precious resource in Manzanola, and it’s the least trusted.

“We buy bottled water and drink it,” said resident Michael Graham. “But like I said my lawn loves it.”

Graham was outside watering his newly planted grass in the small town east of Pueblo. He doesn’t trust the water to drink though because of a letter recently sent out by the town warning that the water supply has elevated levels of Uranium.

“Years down the line, who knows what it’s going to cause,” Graham said.

In the letter, the city warns over time drinking water with elevated levels of Uranium could cause cancer.

Around town, bottles of water fill shelves because people like Virginia Garcia haven’t trusted the water coming out of the tap for years.

“I don’t take it for granted,” Garcia said. “I’ve lost two daughters to cancer and I don’t want to end up getting it or any of my other kids.”

Two years ago, Target 13 Investigates found widespread radiation in the groundwater east of Pueblo in the Lower Arkansas Valley. Since then many communities have safely lowered their radiation.

If you want to search your area for any violations in your water system, this is a link to the EPA.

http://iaspub.epa.gov/enviro/sdw_form_v2.create_page?state_abbr=CO

From the link, you can search by water system or county, and narrow down the population served.